


Now, ain't it good to know that you've got a friend, when people can be so cold?

by CanaryWarrior



Category: Stargirl (TV 2020)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Group chat shennanigans, but just a brief mention of a bruise, the jsa kicks Matt's ass for hurting Rick, tw: child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:35:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25413265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanaryWarrior/pseuds/CanaryWarrior
Summary: The JSA has had enough with the way Rick’s uncle treats him. So, they decide to do something about it.
Relationships: Beth Chapel & Henry King Jr., Beth Chapel & Rick Tyler, Beth Chapel & Yolanda Montez & Rick Tyler & Courtney Whitmore, Beth Chapel/Rick Tyler
Comments: 10
Kudos: 60





	Now, ain't it good to know that you've got a friend, when people can be so cold?

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this to cope with what happened in episode 10. I hope you all enjoy it!  
> Title from Carole King’s ‘You’ve Got a Friend’

“Hey, are you okay?” Beth asked Rick in concern as she approached his locker. 

The taller boy glanced at her. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he grumbled, not making eye contact.

Beth noticed what looked like a fresh bruise on Rick’s wrist. “What happened there?”

Rick pulled his sleeve down quickly, mentally cursing himself for not noticing his revealed skin. “Nothing, Beth.”

Beth’s eyes turned sympathetic. “It was your uncle, wasn’t it?” She said softly.

Rick opened his mouth to respond but realized that he couldn’t bring himself to lie to Beth. He sighed. “Maybe.”

Anger coursed through Beth’s veins. How dare Matt Harris hurt Rick? His own nephew? One of her best friends? “Hey, maybe we can do something-”

Rick slammed his locker door, an action he regretted deeply when he saw Beth flinch. He softened his expression and voice. “Listen, Beth, there’s nothing anyone can do. I’ll see you later, okay?” With that, Rick walked away.

Beth felt awful. She had to do something, there was no way she was going to let Rick go through this all alone. She pulled out her phone and created a group chat with herself, Courtney, Yolanda, and Henry.

**Beth** :  _ SOS, guys, we have a problem. _

**Henry:** _Whose ass do I need to kick?_

**Courtney:** _ Why is that your first question? _

**Yolanda:** _ Do you need us to kick someone’s ass for you? Because I will! _

**Beth:** _ Listen, I think things with Rick and his uncle are getting worse. Don’t tell him I told you this, but I saw a bruise on his wrist and he was trying to hide it. _

**Courtney:** _ Oh, no! What should we do? _

**Henry:** _ We break down that bastard’s door and kick his ass, that’s what we should do! _

**Yolanda:** _Can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m with Henry._

**Beth:** _ I’m with you guys, but there’s no way that Rick would let us do that. He even told me that there’s nothing anyone can do. If he finds out that we’re planning something, he’ll stop us! _

**Courtney:** _ If all four of us are missing, Rick is bound to notice. So, Beth, you’ll distract him while Yolanda, Henry, and I go to his house.  _

**Henry:** _ No offense, Courtney, but I can’t picture you actively kicking someone’s ass, especially someone who isn’t a supervillain. _

**Courtney:** _ Well, we’ll see what happens. I’m glad to let you and Yolanda take the lead as long as I get to punch that abusive ass in the face. _

**Yolanda:** _ Fine by me! Should we go today after school? _

**Henry:** _I’m good with that_

**Courtney:** _ Same. Beth? _

**Beth:** _ I’m in! I’ll ask Rick to hang out with me after school and then you guys can go do your thing _

**Henry:** _ Never thought that I would see the day where Beth Chapel would organize a hit on someone and Courtney Whitmore would go along with it _

**Beth:** _ What about Yolanda? And stop making it sound like an assassination plan! _

**Henry:** _ Yolanda threatens me on a regular basis and is a good fighter. I expect this kinda thing from her _

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hey Rick!” Beth called out, running to catch up with Rick, who stopped when he heard her voice. “Do you want to get some coffee with me?” She asked, with what she hoped was a convincing grin.

Rick felt his face getting red at the thought of going out with Beth, even though he knew she meant it platonically. He didn’t have anything else to do, and he would much rather hang with her than go home and deal with his uncle. “Yeah, sure, I’d like that.”

“Cool!” Beth looped her arm through Rick’s, not noticing his blush. They walked over to his car and Beth got in the passenger seat while Rick took his place behind the wheel. As they drove, Beth whipped out her phone and sent out a text.

**Beth:** _Rick and I are going to get some coffee at the diner. You’re up!_

**Yolanda:** _ Copy that. _

\-----------------------------------------------

“Remind me again why we had to skip our last class to go home early just to get black clothes and masks?” Henry asked from the driver’s seat of his car. 

“Because we don’t want Matt Harris to be able to identify us,” Courtney reminded him from the passenger seat. 

“And we can’t exactly wear our superhero costumes in broad daylight” Yolanda added from the backseat. “Oh, there’s his house!”

“Okay, I’m gonna park my car here so Rick’s uncle won’t see it. You two ready?” Henry asked.

“Yup.”

“Definitely.”

The trio got out of the car and walked to the entrance of the Harris residence. Henry telekinetically pushed the door off its hinges and walked inside, the two girls on his heel.

“What the-” Matt Harris started as he entered the room, hearing the crash. “Who the hell are you?”

Courtney pushed past Yolanda and Henry, stomped up to Matt, and threw her fist at his nose.

“OW! What the hell, you little-”

Henry felt a surge at anger at what Matt had planned on calling Courtney, quickly rushing up to him and pushing the older man, using his powers to make it hurt more. 

After a couple of seconds, Matt had pushed himself up. “Who the hell are you, and what-” 

Yolanda quickly and swiftly round kicked him, causing him to land back on the floor. She grabbed him by the collar and threatened, “If you EVER hurt Rick again, we’ll know. He may try to hide it for some reason, but we will always know. If you do so much as to raise a hand in his direction, we’ll know, and we will come back. Do you understand?”

Matt’s eyes were wild with fear as he nodded. Yolanda let him go, allowing him to fall back on the floor. The brunette swiftly walked out the door, followed by Courtney and Henry.

“You should probably fix that door,” Henry said cheekily, before exiting the house.

The trio ran back to Henry’s car and got in. Henry drove for a few blocks before pulling aside. 

“Okay, that felt really good.”

“It did. Do you think it worked?” Courtney asked, worried.

“I’m sure it did, but we’ll just have to wait and see,” Yolanda responded, texting Beth in the group chat to let her know that they were finished. 

“How do you think Rick will react? Obviously, his uncle is going to tell him what happened, and he’ll figure out it was us,” Courtney said.

“So let’s tell him, he deserves to hear it from us, at least. Is he still at the diner with Beth?” Henry suggested.

After a few moments, Yolanda’s phone beeped. “Yeah, they are still there. Let’s go, it’s just a few minutes away.”

Henry nodded and drove.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Once Beth and Rick were settled in a booth with their coffee, Rick spoke up.

“So, why did you want to hang out here?” Deep down, Rick longed for this to be a date, but he was too realistic to dwell on that desire. Beth was fantastic, she was kind and selfless, and if she wanted, she could easily get anyone to fall for her. Why would she ever want him?

“Because you’re one of my best friends and I wanted to hang out with you,” Beth said nonchalantly, sipping her steaming cup of coffee.

Rick raised his eyebrows. “And this has nothing to do with earlier today?”

“Uh, I just wanted to try to make you feel better,” Beth responded. Technically, it wasn’t a lie. She thought that she could try to cheer him up while Courtney, Yolanda, and Henry did their thing.

For the first time that day, Rick let out a small smile. “Thanks, Beth.”

Beth took a deep breath. “So, tell me something about yourself that I don’t know.”

“Okay,” Rick said, because he knew he couldn’t deny her anything. “I’m really into chemistry at the moment. When I was younger, my dad got me a chemistry set and we would play around with it. After he died, I got more into fixing cars. And then Pat gave me my dad’s notebook, and I’ve been teaching myself more chemistry to see if that’s the key to breaking his code.”

Beth was surprised. She knew Rick was smart, but she didn’t know that he was teaching himself chemistry. “Wow, Rick, that’s amazing!” 

“Your turn,” Rick said, trying hard to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. Damn, why did he have to fall for the one girl who was way too good for him?

“I love murder mysteries. Books, movies, you name it. Actually, Henry does too. We have movie night together once a week to watch a murder mystery and we talk about books.” Henry also spent that time teasing Beth about her crush on Rick, which usually resulted in her hitting the redhead with a pillow. Damn mind readers. But at least Henry was sworn to secrecy. Beth knew that Rick would never feel the same way about her.

Rick tried to push back the jealousy he felt bubbling up inside him. He didn’t know that Beth and Henry of all people had that kind of tradition. “Oh, that’s...nice. Why didn’t you invite Henry?” He asked in what he hoped was a casual tone.

“Because I just wanted to hang out with you!” Beth said, as her phone beeped. Yolanda had texted her that they were finished and Beth responded with a thumbs up. “And he’s busy.”

“And Yolanda and Court?” Rick asked.

“They’re busy too,” Beth said casually as her phone beeped once again. It was Yolanda, telling her that they wanted to come clean to Rick and asked her if she was still at the diner.

Rick looked at Beth suspiciously. “Beth, where are they?”

“Where are who?” 

“Court, Yolanda, and Henry?”

“.......”

“You told them, didn’t you,” Rick stated, as he watched Beth type something on her phone.

Beth sighed. He was going to find out either way. “Yeah, I did.”

  
“Why would you tell them?” Rick didn’t want his friends to know. He could deal with it on his own.

“Because I was worried! I care about you, more than you know, and I couldn’t just stand by and watch you constantly get hurt!” Beth exclaimed.

Rick stared at her in shock. He knew she cared about him, Beth cared about all of her friends, but he didn’t expect her to get so angry on his behalf. No one has ever done that for him. But Beth is the type of person who always came up with plans. She always makes sure that those plans work and he knew she wouldn’t just stand by and do nothing. With wide eyes that he hoped didn’t look like heart eyes, he asked, “Beth, what did you do?”

“She organized a hit on your uncle,” Henry said casually, as if he were commenting on the weather, as he slid into the booth next to Beth, putting an arm around the booth seat and Beth by default. Courtney and Yolanda slid next to Rick, who slid down to make more space, on his side of the booth.

Beth playfully slapped Henry’s shoulder. “Would you stop saying it like that? You were the one who asked me whose ass you needed to kick right off the bat.”

Rick felt his stomach drop as he watched Beth and Henry’s interaction, but pushed it aside. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, Beth texted us and told us about the bruise she saw, so we decided that she would distract you while Henry, Yolanda and I kicked your uncle’s ass.”

“I don’t think he’ll bother you, anymore,” Yolanda spoke up.

“We put the fear of God into him… Well, Yolanda did, mostly. You may also need a new door,” Henry added.

“....What?” Rick was trying to keep up.

“You should’ve seen Court’s right hook,” Yolanda praised. “Henry mostly used his powers, though.”

“Yolanda literally kicked him,” Henry noted. “I can’t believe you figured out that we were up to something.”

Rick ignored that last comment. “Why would you do that?”

“Because you’re our friend,” Courtney said.

“You deserve to be treated so much better, Rick,” Yolanda agreed.

Rick turned to Henry, curious. “And you?”

The telepath shrugged. “I kinda like you, and we’re teammates.” The girls rolled their eyes at Henry’s response, but all knew it was probably the nicest thing he’s ever said about Rick.

Rick accepted Henry’s response. He was so surprised that he had friends who would do something like that for him. “You guys didn’t have to do that.”

“We wanted to,” Beth said, with the others nodding in agreement.

Knowing that he wouldn’t win this argument, he settled with, “Thank you.”

Courtney grinned. “Anytime! Well, we just wanted to come and give you the heads up about what to expect when you get home,” she said, getting up with Yolanda. 

“We’ll wait in your car, Henry,” Yolanda stated. 

“I’ll walk you out,” Rick said, also standing up. He talked to the two girls who were practically his sisters on their way out of the diner.

“You know that Rick feels the same way about you. He’s obviously jealous of you and I, and I heard in his mind that he wanted this to be a date,” Henry said as soon as the others were out of earshot.

“You said you would stop reading our minds,” Beth said, not wanting to get her hopes up.

“It’s hard to ignore such loud thoughts,” he protested.

Beth replied quietly, “Did he really want this to be a date?” 

“Yeah, he did.” Henry stood up when he saw Rick enter the diner. “Now’s your chance, Beth. I’ll talk to you later.” The redhead walked past Rick, nodding at him before he left.

“I still can’t believe you all planned this,” Rick sat down.

“I can’t believe we pulled it off.” Beth took a deep breath. “Hey, Rick?”

“Yeah?” He responded, with those soft eyes that he reserved only for her.

“Did you want this to be a date?”

Rick stared at her with shock. “Dammit, King… Look, Beth, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable-”

“Because I like you too,” Beth confessed.

“You do?”

“Of course I do. I thought it was obvious,” Beth revealed.

Rick felt a big smile form on his face. “I… But, why?”

“Because you’re smart and kind to your friends. You would risk anything to help us. Because you’re a good guy, Rick Tyler.”

Rick blushed, still in disbelief that this was happening. “So, should we count this as our first date?”

Beth leaned over the table, gently held Rick’s face, and kissed him softly on the lips. Their first kiss, which Rick happily reciprocated.

They pulled apart and Beth said “Yeah, I’d like that.”

Beth put some money down on the counter as she and Rick got out of the booth. 

“I should probably head home and check out the damage,” Rick said. “I’ll drive you home.”

Beth smiled. “Thanks.” 

The two walked hand in hand out of the diner, both feeling lighter and happier. Today may have started off terrible, but it ended far better than either of them could hope for. 


End file.
